Refrigerator



Sept. 12, 1939. c, sHUART 2,172,458

REFRIGERATOR Filed April 12, 1937 a INVENTOR. mm 0. 5M

Zl L TTORNEY. I

Patented Sept. 12, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Servel, Inc., New York, N. Y.,

Delaware a corporation of Application April 12, 1937, Serial No. 136,299

4 Claims.

My invention relates to refrigerators, and has for its object to provide an improved refrigerator door structure.

The objects and advantages of the invention 5 will be more fully understood from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing forming a part of this specification, and of which Fig. 1 is a front elevation of a refrigerator cabinet provided with a door embodying my invention; Fig. 2 is a rear elevation of the door illustrated in Fig. 1; Figs. 3 and 4 are fragmentary sectional views taken on lines 33 and 44 of Fig. 2; Fig. 5 is a bottom plan view of a separate corner piece of the gasket shown in Fig. 2; Fig. 6 is a sectional view taken on line 6-6 of Fig. 5; and Fig. 7 is an enlarged sectional view on line 1-1 of Fig. 2.

Referring to Fig. 1, I have shown a refrigerator comprising a cabinet ill having a thermally insu- 20 lated storage space H into which access may be had by a door l2 hinged to the front of the cabinet. Within the storage space H is arranged a cooling element iii of refrigeration apparatus for producing cold and maintaining the space H at a desired low temperature.

The door l2 includes outer and inner wall members 4 and I5 which may be maintained in spaced relation by a door frame l6, for example, or in any other suitable manner. The space between the outer and inner wall members I 4 and I5 is filled with a suitable heat insulating material IT. The outer wall member i 4 extends beyond the inner wall member l5 and is bent back upon itself to form a ledge l8 which overlies the front exterior wall of the cabinet l0 when the door [2 is closed. Y

A breaker or trim strip extends about the periphery of the door and includes strips i9 positioned along the sides of the door with the longitudinal edges thereof overlying the edges of the outer and inner wall members l4 and I5. Each of the strips I9 is secured in any suitable manner, as by screws 20, for example, to the periphery of the door. At the round corners of the door the ends of adjacent strips l9 are joined by curved angle members 2| which are secured, as by small pegs or screws 22, for example, to the periphery of the door l2. The extreme ends of the strips iii are slightly reduced in width, and the corner members 2| overlap these end portions of the strips. The strips I9 and curved angle members 2| may be formed of suitable material, such as the material commercially known as Bakelite, so that the inside of the door will be neat in appearance A multi-section gasket is provided at the ledge IQ for effectively sealing the door l2 when it is locked in its closed-position. The multi-section gasket comprises corner pieces 23 located at the corners of the door and straight pieces 24 extending between the corner pieces 23. The corner and straight pieces 23 and 24 of the gasket are preferably formed of resilient material, such as rubber, for example, the corner pieces 23 preferably being molded into the desired shape with 10 a radius of curvature which will conform to the contour of the round corners of the door.

The corner pieces 23 are formed with an intermediate flat portion 25, an inner inclined edge portion 26, and anouter edge 21 which is curved l5 and semi-circular in section, as shown in Figs.

3 and 6. The curved outer edge 21, which serves as a hollow striking head, is provided with a plurality of spaced walls or supporting webs-21'. In order that the corner pieces 23 can easily be 20 located in position at the corners of the ledge It, the flat intermediate portions are provided with a plurality of projections or buttons 28. The corner pieces 23 are secured in position by pressing the buttons 24 through openings at the inner 25 surface of the ledge I 3.. With the corner pieces 23 in position at the corners of the ledge l8, the striking beads 21 along their entire length bear uniformly against the extreme outer edge of the ledge with the corner pieces conforming to the contour of the round corners of the door l2. The inner inclined edge portions 26 of the corner pieces 23 bear against the inclined flange of the outer wall member 14 which extends toward the inner wall member l5, and the outer edge portions of the curved corner angle members 2| overlie and bear against the inner edge portions 26 of the corner pieces 23.

The straight pieces 24 of the gasket, which may be formed of extruded rubber, are similar in cross-section to themolded comer pieces 23 and are provided with a hollow striking bead 30 along the outer longitudinal edges thereof. The inner inclined edge portions of the straight pieces 24 also bear against the inclined flange of the outer wall member l4, as shown at 32 in Fig. 4, and the strips l9 overlie the inclined inner edges of the straight pieces 24 and retain the latter in position. The ends of the straight pieces 24 and the ends of the curved corner pieces 23 are 60 contiguous to each other and in abutting relation, and are secured together in any suitable manner, as by small staples or U-shaped clips 3|. The corner pieces 23 and straight pieces 24 preferably are of such length that the force applied to the striking beads when a door is closed will effectively seal the joints between the separate a considerably.

pieces of the gasket.

By providing a door having a multi-section gasket and breaker strip of the character just described, the assembly of the door is facilitated Since the corner pieces 23 are molded to conform to the contour of the round corners of the door I2, crimping of the gasket at the corners is avoided and eflective sealing is ob-' tained about the entire periphery of the door.

While I have shown and described a particular embodiment of my invention, such variations and modifications are contemplated as fall within the true spirit and scope of my invention, as pointed out in the following claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A gasket for the corner of a refrigerator door, said gasket being molded and formed of resilient material, such as rubber, and having a flat portion with curved edges and provided with a recessed striking bead at the outer edge, and a ledge on the inner edge at an angle with the flat portion and adapted to be secured and hidden by a part of the refrigerator.

2. A gasket for the corner of a refrigerator door, said gasket being molded and formed of resilient material, such as rubber, with the outer and inner edges thereof curved or rounded, and having a flat portion provided with a striking bead at the outer curved edge thereof and a lip ,on the inner curved edge extending at an angle comprising straight strips and preformed corner pieces of molded rubber, said strips and corner pieces having a flat portion with a bead on one edge and a securing projection on the opposite edge at an angle to the flat portion, both edges of said corner pieces being curved'substantially concentrically.

4. A corner gasket for use in refrigerator cabinet construction, said gasket being molded and formed of resilient material, said gasket having similarly curved inner and outer edges with the inner edge provided with an angularly disposed flange by means of which the gasket may be secured in position, and the outer edge being provided with a striking bead.

ARTHUR C. SHUART. 

